Abstract: Strategy studies have been a well established field in second language writing research and this article investigates English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' writing strategy use from a sociocultural perspective. Unlike the traditional focus on internal cognitive mechanisms in writing strategy studies, this sociocultural approach highlights the dialectic relationship between cognition and the sociocultural context and the importance of mediating resources in strategy use. Six good student writers from a Chinese university participated in the study, and data about their writing experience were collected through interviews. The findings showed that the participants used four types of writing strategies: artifact mediated, rule mediated, community mediated, and role mediated strategies. Other features of their strategy use include the diversity of mediating resources, idiosyncratic use of these resources, and the common goal to enhance their language knowledge and writing ability. Drawing on these findings, it is suggested that the sociocultural context of writing activities can be reconfigured to help writers enhance their strategy use and possible ways include artifact manipulation and community construction.